An ordinance mandating that the Juneau Police Department release body-worn camera footage no more than 30 days after a city police officer shoots someone will be open for public testimony later this month.
That’s after the Juneau Assembly advanced the policy change ordinance at a committee meeting on Monday.
Juneau officers have been wearing body-worn cameras since 2017. But there’s nothing in JPD’s policies that says when footage must be released to the public. Juneau residents have been advocating for that to change following two deadly shootings by officers last year.
At the meeting, Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos said he’s on board with putting a policy into place.
“Our intention is to release the body camera footage as quickly as we can. We’re not looking to push this out in perpetuity,” he said. “Our end goal would always be if we can get this done in 15 days, let’s get it done in 15 days. If we can get it done in three extra days, we’ll do it in three extra days.”
It took the department more than 30 days to release the body-worn camera footage after both deadly shootings last year. The department did not release the footage until after the state’s Office of Special Prosecutions completed its investigation of the shootings. In both cases, the state ruled that the officers involved were justified in their use of lethal force. Officers were not charged for either death.
While the Assembly’s proposed policy would mandate a 30-day release, it would also give the city manager and police chief the ability to delay the release of footage beyond that deadline in certain circumstances. They would be required to provide a reason to the public and the delay could only last until the state investigation is complete.
Some Assembly members took issue with that. So did the city’s Systemic Racism Review Committee, said City Attorney Emily Wright.
“They expressed frustration with that,” Wright said. “They felt like it would be a pretty large loophole and could be really used by the city to delay much too long.”
Juneau’s proposed timeline would be much shorter than what the state’s Office of Special Prosecutions requests and shorter than the timeline the Anchorage Police Department put in place last year following a string of police shootings. APD’s policy mandates that footage be released within 45 days of the incident, while the state requests at least 60 days.
The Assembly will consider the ordinance on Monday, May 19. There will be an opportunity for public testimony before members vote on whether to adopt it.
